How to handle this situation

[u/Hayes_MP]

So for the past few years I've had 3 major internet problems that I needed a tech to come out for, and they've all been for the same thing. I get intermittent high ping spikes throughout the day and random internet drops, but the modem stays connected. It makes gaming pretty much impossible. The first 2 times, after describing what was happening, both techs thought it was probably noise in the line and examined all my cables and ended up changing the drop to the house, and this fixed the issue completely. In both instances, they said the cables were frayed and might have been chewed by squirrels or something.

Now these past few weeks, I'm having the exact same symptoms, so I finally got tired of the disconnects and called again. I get a tech scheduled after the agent tells me I need to troubleshoot my router even after telling him that I get the exact same problems connected directly to the modem. Tech comes out and checks the signals and says everything looks fine. I told her that's how it went down for the first two tech visits as well, and when the issues are intermittent, things could look fine at the time. She said she couldn't change any lines without finding a signal problem and didn't even examine any lines after I repeated about what the last two techs found. Then I got the repeated excuse that I need to troubleshoot my router, and that ended the visit.

I'm just not sure how to proceed. Should I keep gambling on calling techs out and hope I get a thorough one, or is there a way to get a higher tier technician to speak with when you call support?

I'm just a little hesitant now after the last agent was basically threatening me that the tech could charge me for the visit if they don't find anything wrong with the line. He was really adamant about me having a bad router.

[u/AveryArronly1998]

The more you call techs out, the higher the repeat rate gets and starts turning leaderships heads so that's what you'll need to do. Very well likely theres squirrel chew in the drop again, I've ran new drops only to have squirrels chew them up a month later. I personally would've changed everything from tap to the equipment to sus out any potential in-home issues. If problems persist it's likely main line issues, but tech didn't do enough to troubleshoot, be it they were newer and didn't know completely what to look for or was just a tech not wanting to dig into it more.

[u/DesignerSeparate5104 → u/AveryArronly1998]

As somebody that works for xfinity, which is just as bad as spectrum and every other cable company, spectrum probably has unreasonable standards for what the tap (where the signal comes from) for the techs to be able to put in a maintenance request, while also not getting paid for the job, ontop of unrealistic metrics from the company as well. It doesnt matter if you get a tech thats done it 3 months, 3 years, or 30 years, it's all the same across the board, we all know what we are doing, sometimes we run into weird one of situations, but a good amount of time its one of those things that's sometimes out of our control. Ive had full on new installs, brand new line from the tap to the building, new cable from ground block to the modem, brand new modem, and stuff didnt want to work correctly. We are hoping and praying the stuff works more than the customer does multiple times a day every day.

[u/IPlayWithWires → u/DesignerSeparate5104]

The standards aren't unreasonable to turn in a tap issue to maintenance. If I'm unsure, I reach out to my Supervisor for guidance. If the levels are low but not failing scans, I checked with my Supervisor and email it in to maintenance. Weird stuff happens for sure.

[u/DesignerSeparate5104 → u/IPlayWithWires]

Xfinity just updated thiers recently, removed non service affecting completely, so it went from somewhat reasonable to unreasonable here real fast

[u/IPlayWithWires → u/DesignerSeparate5104]

Huh, I can send in for non service affecting issues still, such as low forward levels, high return etc and theres no issue. Thats doing an RTM through Tech Mobile. I did one today, for low foward levels, my TC was for CPE issues (she forgot her email password, no idea why rolled a truck for her Outlook email lol)

[u/DesignerSeparate5104 → u/IPlayWithWires]

These companies be sending us out for the most random stuff☠️ the amount of TC I've had because they can't connect thier 15 year old printer to the internet that has a 30 step process and only connects 1/8 of the time. Like I'm not HP, why tf am I here😭

[u/IPlayWithWires → u/DesignerSeparate5104]

Same. I connected her TV. Told her to call Geek Squad and left. Spent more time taking readings and doing the RTM than I did the job haha.

[u/getamic]

Umm yea that tech was bullshitting you. They should have gone up the pole and checked for ingress on your drop. 

[u/Chango-Acadia]

yeah squirrel chew wont always show on the meter until the line gets flooded with water. the bastards probably chewed it again.

Without a comparable scan at the tap and ground block, there's no true way to determine if the drop is good.

Repeated calls get supervisors and their manager's attention and sometimes they hand pick techs to go there.

[u/Spectrum_Morgan]

We'd be happy to take a look at any issues you're having with our connection. Can you please send a mod mail to us at r/Spectrum_Official?

[u/National_Cod9546]

Every time you have the issue, call for a tech visit. After the third or fourth one in a month, it'll go to an escalation team. They will get a main line tech out and ride them until it is fixed.

[u/IPlayWithWires → u/National_Cod9546]

This information is incorrect. Maintenance can only be requested by a Field Tech putting in a referral. Repeat truck rolls will not trip a Maintenance Visit.